With just two races left in the Chase until a NASCAR champion is crowned, NBC Sports Group announced last week a new take on its racing programming with the debut of quiz show Shotgun on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app over the weekend. The series, which “tests contestants’ skills at answering questions while riding in the passenger seat of a professional race car,” will see a one-hour television premiere on NBCSN on Nov. 19 at 7p, with an encore presentation running on NBC on Dec. 11. The series, which is hosted by NASCAR on NBC’s Rutledge Wood, is produced by The Amazing Race team of Bertram Van Munster and Elise Doganieri.
Cynopsis Sports asked Jon Miller, President of Programming, NBC Sports and NBCSN, about the network’s programming strategy, the Chase and NBCSN’s record year.
Miller on the NASCAR season: Obviously, the numbers for the Chase are a little bit off from where they were last year, but that is to be expected because you’ve lost some big names like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. But when you look at it, the Chase has shaped up nicely because you have some great stories out there that include Kyle Busch trying to repeat, his brother is still out there, Jimmie Johnson is challenging and you’ve got some great young drivers in the mix. Our last three races are on broadcast so there are a lot of good things going on and we work really well with NASCAR.
On NASCAR fans: They are still very loyal to the brand and their favorite drivers. One of the things that is amazing is that they will stick with races even through rain delays because they love the sport so much. But you can’t take them for granted either, and you have to constantly innovate and that’s one of the things Sam Flood and hit team have been trying to do when they cover the races.
On Shotgun’s fit with the NBC Sports brand: This series blends all of elements of a great new show in being a trivia/quiz show that involved motor sports, fast cars and contestants not knowing what to expect. We were all blown away by the pilot. I think that when people see it, they will get a big kick out of it. It embraces motorsports, it is fun. A lot of viewers just don’t understand how fast, how dangerous and how thrilling it is. I don’t know if I would ever want to do it! We want to do stuff that’s core to our brands and our properties. It comes in right at the end of the season for us. That’s one of the things that NBCSN has been so great at, sticking to the properties that we do well and superserving those fans, whether it is the Premier League or the NHL or our motorsports. We tend to focus on the properties that are our bread-and-butter. We try not to stray too far from our strategic plans and goals.
On 2016: It’s been a year for NBCSN and it will be our highest-rated year ever. In 2015, we set a record and in 2016 we are going to break that record. The channel had an unbelievable run during the Olympics. The Premier League continues to deliver great numbers for us. Our distribution continues to grow. We are up to the 85 million home mark, which is a key number for us. We continue to grow and innovate and that is the challenge we put in front of ourselves. We will always be looking for new opportunities, but everybody is pretty excited about where we are and how far we’ve come.
